Since the start of the program, partner clinic administrators and photographers, working alongside EyePACS staff members, have contributed a great deal of new knowledge about integrating diabetic retinopathy screening into the clinical setting. The program has been successful because of the hard work and dedication of the primary caregivers who work every day to find new and better ways to use the EyePACS system to improve the health of their diabetic patients.

Dr. Jorge Cuadros, Chief Executive OfficerJorge Cuadros, OD, PhD has been involved in telemedicine-based eye care since 1994. With a Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Biological and Medical Information Science from the University of California, San Francisco, he offers both clinical and technical expertise in the discipline of telemedicine. He developed several communication programs using digital imaging for clinical diagnosis and distance learning, including programs in India, China, and Latin America. Through his personal efforts and leadership, he developed EyePACS, an open access, license-free system for clinical communication in eye care that has been used for remote care, diabetic eye disease screening, home care, education, and research. Besides directing the system development and implementation, he also established a Virtual Reading Center for the evaluation of retinal images in diabetic patients. Within a three year span, he has led a multi-million dollar grant from the California Health Care Foundation to establish telemedicine-based diabetic retinopathy screening services in over 50 safety net clinics in California. This network is now being extended to other health care settings both in California, other states and internationally. His work is also supported by the National Eye Institute for the validation of new low-cost retinal imaging systems for primary care settings. In the last 10 years, he has given more than 100 lectures domestically and internationally on informatics, telemedicine and diabetic retinopathy. He is also the co-author of an international collaborative book titled Teleophthalmology. He is currently Clinical Professor and Director of Informatics Research at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry.

George Bresnick, Chief Medical OfficerGeorge Bresnick, MD, MPA is an international expert in the field of diabetic retinopathy research and treatment, community health program development and program administration. He holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the New York University Medical School, specialty certification in Ophthalmology, and a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. With 21 years of Academic Ophthalmology tenure and 12 years of experience in international and domestic public health, he brings the clinical, technical and the operational experience to help develop and administer telemedicine-based diabetic retinopathy screening programs. Over the past 6 years, he has helped develop the evaluative tools and the personnel training and certification programs to support the EyePACS efforts. Dr. Bresnick was a Principal Investigator at the University of Wisconsin in the key National Eye Institute-supported studies (DRS/ETDRS) that demonstrated the value of laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy and that laid the groundwork for the telemedicine evaluation of retinopathy severity. He has designed and conducted a number of public health eye care programs in minority and underserved communities for early detection and treatment of vision-threatening eye diseases. This includes a comprehensive eye-care program that served 10,000 inhabitants on the West Indian Island of Nevis, and a program to prevent blindness from diabetes in Central Mexico. He has also published more than 100 scientific articles in major ophthalmic journals and medical textbooks. He is currently a Clinical Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Medical Director and Co-founder of Vision for All, Inc., a nonprofit eye public health organization working to reduce preventable blindness in underserved populations in the U.S. and abroad.

Wyatt Tellis, Chief Information OfficerWyatt Tellis, PhD has nearly 10 years of experience with developing clinical applications. He received his undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Biological & Medical Information Science from the University of California, San Francisco. His research interests include telemedicine, digital systems for medical education, clinical IT systems integration, patient directed medical image exchange, clinical data management for research applications with an emphasis on biomedical imaging and grid computing applications, utilization of mobile computing technology to enable point-of-care access to medical information, and the development of applications and processes to enhance the acquisition, exchange and analysis of biomedical research data. In 2003, he was awarded the first research grant from the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology (SCAR) that funded his project to explore the use of mobile computing devices to deliver radiology devices at the point-of-care. He worked with Dr. Cuadros to develop EyePACS since its inception and oversees the continued technical development of the application. He currently works as an informaticist in the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging at UCSF. He is also the system architect for the RSNA’s (Radiological Society of North America) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) sponsored nationwide image sharing network. Recently, he has been appointed to the board of directors of the Society Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM).

Taras Litvin, Chief Science OfficerTaras Litvin, OD, PhD has a doctorate in Vision Science from UC Berkeley. As a graduate student, he focused on new approaches to detect sight-threatening diabetic macular edema. He began his work with EyePACS just after completing his residency in 2010, helping with several research projects evaluating retinal imaging and electrodiagnostic systems for the detection of vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy. He is a practicing optometrist with Kaiser Permanente and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC Berkeley School of Optometry. As EyePACS CSO, he is tasked with setting the research and scientific priorities that reflect the EyePACS mission and developing and managing research and scientific operations. He has a particular interest in clinical study design and data analysis.

Program Coordinators

Anna Sorenson

Anna attended UC Berkeley and graduated with a degree in Integrative Biology. She hopes to attend optometry school and work with community health clinics in the future. She has been with EyePACS, LLC since the fall of 2013 and was a Health Fair Coordinator for the undergraduate EyePACS volunteer program at UC Berkeley.

Amanda Joslin

Amanda is the Washington state program coordinator for EyePACS, LLC. She lives in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Public Health. Amanda started working with EyePACS in February of 2016 and is excited to be working with a program that does such an excellent job of linking primary care providers with specialists regardless of their physical location.

Pablo Cuadros

Pablo Cuadros graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S in Psychology. He feels EyePACS has offered him a wonderful opportunity to help positively impact community health through innovative telemedicine practices. Pablo is eager to support the EyePACS mission and experience the world of healthcare as he prepares to pursue a graduate degree in Behavioral Healthcare.

Kareem Ahmed

A graduate of UC Berkeley with a B.S in Physiology and Metabolism, Kareem plans to continue on to medical school in the future. "I am excited to work with EyePACS because it bridges the gap between affordability and quality in healthcare."